The Siege of the Supers (The First Superhero Book 2) by Logan Rutherford

Chances
    M y speech racked up a few million views in the first 24 hours after it was posted.
    I couldn’t help but think about how much I could’ve made from ad revenue, like Mom said.
    It was all over the news, although every time it was on TV when I was in the room, I turned it off. I hated seeing myself on camera, even though you couldn’t even recognize it was me.
    Still, even though I couldn’t help but cringe when it was on, I was proud of myself. I stood there and told everyone that I’d returned a little bit earlier then they’d thought, and that I was behind the bank collapsing in Dallas.
    I didn’t say where I’d been during those six months, however. I didn’t want to add more fuel to the government’s fire. If I told everyone they’d lied about the reasons behind refunding the shuttle program, it’d just add to the growing tension in the country. People were starting to get very upset that a teenager was doing more to protect them than the government—even though, really, they had no idea I was a teenager. If they knew that, there’d probably be chaos. People would be very, very, pissed.
    My alarm went off, and I turned it off as soon as it did so. It was of no use to me this morning, since I had already been wide awake for a half hour. I’d enjoyed the peace and quiet for those thirty minutes. I’d been able to just lie there, lost in my own thoughts.
    Now, however, it was time to get up. It was time to show people that Tempest was a hero—and hopefully, show Holocene that I was an ally.
    It was a Saturday morning, Mom and Dad were still asleep. I put on my basketball shorts and t-shirt, then grabbed my latest Tempest outfit from my bedroom floor. I slipped it on, and then put on my jacket and sweatpants.
    I left the apartment building, walked through my usual alley, and took off for Dallas.
    I didn’t go as fast as I could, but I wasn’t taking my time either. I made a mental note to keep an eye out for Holocene. If she saw me flying around Dallas, she probably wouldn’t be very happy, even if she’d seen my video. I hoped I’d be at the bank site before she saw me.
    After a thirty-minute flight, I reached Dallas. I landed on top of a skyscraper downtown and shed my coat and sweatpants, revealing my Tempest outfit underneath. Even with the outfit and the clothes underneath, the cold wind bit at me. I could’ve used some of Brian’s flames at that moment. Even though it was Texas, it still got pretty cold in December. Not Indiana cold, but still, nothing to sneeze at.
    I made sure my clothes weren’t anywhere where they’d blow away, and then flew to where the bank used to be. The construction crew was just arriving, working even on the weekend. They’d just begun to clean up the mess, and it would probably take a few solid days of work before they would be ready to move on to the next step.
    Bulldozers picked at the rubble, piling it up. They would pick up a chunk, drop it in the back of a dump truck, and then go back to picking at their pile.
    I smirked. I was about to give everybody the day off.
    I flew down and began pushing everything into small piles. I then grabbed the pile and threw it in the back of one of the dump trucks. I filled up the first dump truck in fifteen seconds flat before moving on to the next one. In just a couple of minutes, the seven dump trucks that were lined up in the street had been filled to the brim with rubble, and a large part of the building had been cleaned up.
    “You guys can go haul that off,” I said to the truck drivers.
    They all stared at me, their mouths open. They couldn’t believe what they’d just seen. The Tempest, the guy who’d saved them from Richter just a few months ago, was now helping them do their jobs. It was like when a famous actor visited a hospital or one of his fans at work.
    I mentally kicked myself. Don’t get cocky, I thought. Just do your job.
    “Tempest,” a booming voice sounded from the sky.
    I looked up and saw